Another London - exhibition at Tate Britain

This exhibition displayed photographs of London taken by foreign photographers between the years 1930 to 1980. The photographs were arranged by decade and were all black and white.
On one level, the exhibition was interesting as a visual record of what Londoners were like and how they changed. On another level, I was interested to read the brief biographies of the some of the photographers whose work was displayed, most of whom were unfamiliar to me.
For the purposes of this course, however, I have chosen just a few photographs by Bill Brandt that attracted my attention because of the way they conveyed a sense of place, not in a physical sense, but in an atmospheric sense. These are three photographs taken in the backstreets in the interwar years.
"Footsteps coming near" by Bill Brandt 1933-6

It is night time and there is a blurred outline of a man on the left walking away from us, and we see a woman wearing white shoes who appears to be just standing and waiting. On the pavement, there is a dark splatter, which could be nothing or something important. The position of this dark patch in the frame suggests it is significant.
It is possible to imagine all sorts of stories that could explain the situation in this picture, some of which would include violence about to happen or the aftermath of violence. As a result I felt a powerful sense of tension and apprehension when viewing this photograph. The dark tones and soft edges work together to give the impression of press photos of a crime scene (similar in style to the New York photography of Weegee in the 1940s).
The second photograph is entitled Housewife, Bethnal Green by Bill Brandt (1937)

This is a very different view of the backstreets, a woman on her knees washing the front step. Whilst this would have been an inconsequential daily sight in those days, nowadays it is a surprise to remember this scene. The woman is leaning over the bucket with her head cocked in the opposite direction which leads the eye along an S-shaped curve. Her left arm stretches across to the bucket which leads our eye to her hands.
In contrast to the above picture, we see some of the mundane drudgery of city life. The narrative element is less strong; it is the strength of the visually appealing composition that makes the photograph.
"Early Morning on the doorstep" by Bill Brandt 1930-9

In this photograph, the doorstep is rather grand, and the milkman and paperboy have already done their morning delivery. The white of the milk bottles contrasts strongly in the shadowy corner underneath the plinth at one side of the doorstep. The bottles stand in the apex of a triangle formed by the steps and the less bright newspapers provide interest in the lower half of the frame. The newspapers are upside down, so that the text is not readily legible. The composition has similarities to a still life. However, I would expect that a viewer would read into these objects various stories and implications - for example, thoughts of rich Londoners who can stay in bed whilst others are already at work??
Whilst Bill Brandt was born in Germany, by this time he was a London resident having emigrated to UK in 1933. This would explain why his photography shows more of the back streets of London than some of the other photographers who were visiting on short term assignments.
Background trivia
A little research on Google led me to find some background to the exhibition and the third Bill Brandt photograph.

• These photographs were acquired by Tate Britain earlier in 2012 from the Eric and Louise Franck Collection. I wondered what was the background of this collection. I found out that Eric and Louise Franck were photographic curators and dealers. Eric is the brother of Martine Franck, a Magnum photographer some of whose photos are included in the exhibition. She was the wife of Henri Cartier-Bresson. With these connections, one can imagine that they would have ready introductions to much of the photography world. 
• It is just possible to make out the headline of the News Chronicle headline. I think this story relates to the record breaking female aviator Jean Batten. In 1936, she broke the record for a solo flight from England to her home country, New Zealand.